Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness… So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Gen 1:26-27

Imago Dei. What an unbelievably astounding phrase — man is made in the image of God. This phrase is paradoxically one of the most relevant yet most forgotten truths of the day that we live in. With all of the racism, violence, hatred, murder, slander, etc. going on, clearly the world does not see one another as being made in the image of God. Unfortunately, we all struggle with this and fail to some degree to remember it at times.

I struggle with this a lot in a variety of ways and to many different degrees. My primary struggle admittedly probably comes with people of the same faith but with different theological views. It is always such a burden and has robbed me of my happiness and appreciation for my brothers and sisters at times where it was undoubtedly required, and I believe that I have missed out on what could have been sweet, edifying experiences of intimate fellowship and worship. I think there have been times where I could have truly experienced the kingdom here on earth and a taste of what is to come as well, but I was too hard-hearted and stubborn to see it. I pray that the Lord continues softening my heart — not to improper doctrine and inaccurate portrayals of Jesus — but to a people who are made imago Dei.

We all struggle in different ways with remembering this about other people, but I would like to encourage us to try to remember it each day as we remember the love that Christ has for us-- because if we don’t we are missing out on the function of the church--the body of Christ. This world is so cold sometimes. There is so much evil, injustice, pain, confusion, etc., and if we don’t cling to the presence of Jesus when fellowshipping with the body of Christ then we are only making things incredibly hard on ourselves. We need to remember that we have all been united in the death and resurrection of our Lord, and if the Father looks upon each person as reconciled, heirs, and brethren with The Son then we too must see them that way. How dare I ever look at someone who thinks differently than me and see them as anything less than someone that God is pleased with by his own glorious work of forgiveness. No wonder it robs my joy to think that way.

Here me out. I’m not saying stop recognizing sin. I’m not saying stop recognizing differences or inaccurate statements or anything of that nature. God loves the truth. We are to fight for the truth and his word. We are to take it as seriously as possible. But He is judge over all things and we are not. We must count on Him to be the reconciler of all wrongs for all eternity, because we simply cannot do it. We are far more wicked than we can ever imagine, only made righteous by the blood of Jesus. Therefore if our righteousness is not our own, we must trust in the one who gave it to us and not in ourselves.

I’m just saying we need to make sure we don’t allow our recognition of these things to make us see anyone as anything less than someone who is loved by God and made in His image. Kingdom like behavior says love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. If someone slaps your right cheek, turn to them your other as well. If someone forces you to walk a mile, go two with them. None of us can fulfill this to any degree that measures up to the love of Christ, but we should remember these things when we think to withhold love to even our brothers and sisters for trivial things, because we all do it. But not only for this, we should remember it for the bigger things too. We are not Christ, and sin destroys our ability to be perfectly human. After all, Christ was the original, eternal idea- He is the exact image of God, the original, eternal, perfect imago Dei, and because of what he’s done for us we are able to have what we lost because of sin. We are able to better bear the image of our creator because the Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead lives in us and we are united in him and by him.

I encourage each one of us to remember this daily, as we need one another. We need our brothers and sisters and we need fellowship, lest we miss out on what could be the experience of the kingdom here on earth as we await the final coming of our Lord.